Joint Commission Unlikely to Further Truth or
Friendship Between Timor and Indonesia

February 22, 2007 - The East Timor and
Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) said today that the joint
Indonesia-East Timor Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF) can
not further either goal its name suggests.

“The current public hearings give us no reason
to change our view that the CTF is meant to prematurely close the
books, leaving those who masterminded Indonesia’s campaign of
violence in East Timor in 1999 unrepentant and untouched,” said John
M. Miller, National Coordinator of ETAN. “A whitewash is not a basis
on which to create justice or build friendship between peoples or
nations.”

“The truth of 1999 is known. The joint
commission's quest for a consensus history will only lead to a
watered-down version of events which have already been well-aired.
Instead of offering amnesties in exchange for self-serving
statements by Indonesian officials, resources would be better used
educating the Indonesian public about its military's sordid actions
in East Timor and prosecuting the officials who organized and
conducted those crimes,” said Miller.

The CTF was formed in March 2005 by the
presidents of Indonesia and East Timor in an unsuccessful effort to
dissuade then UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan from appointing a
Commission of Experts (COE) to make recommendations to ensure
justice for human rights crimes committed in East Timor in 1999.

“We support good relations between the
Indonesian and East Timorese people, but they will not overcome
their tragic pasts or build democracies until there is genuine
accountability for decades of systematic human rights violations by
the Indonesian military,” said Miller. “This de facto impunity has
an impact on East Timor today, contributing to the current security
crisis which has forced tens of thousands in the capital from their
homes.”

“Victims testifying to the commission have been
treated insensitively at best by some of the Indonesian
commissioners,” said Miller.

Background

Formed over the
objections of East Timor’s Catholic Church and both countries’ civil
society organizations, the CTF is to establish a "shared historical
record" of human rights violations before and after Timor-Leste's
independence ballot in 1999. It can recommend amnesty for those who
“cooperate fully” with it and can propose people-to-people
reconciliation efforts, but it cannot recommend prosecution or other
judicial measures. It has no power to compel testimony or
cooperation.

The UN’s COE found
that the CTF’s
Terms of Reference contradict international and
domestic laws, and offer no mechanisms for addressing serious
crimes. The COE report recommends that the governments revise the
terms of reference as a precondition to receiving international
support. Indonesia’s Constitutional Court recently cast further
doubt on the CTF’s legal basis. Among other principles, the CTF is
supposed to operate under the guidelines of Indonesia’s own Truth
and Reconciliation Commission. However,
Indonesia’s Constitutional
Court recently declared the Indonesian commission unconstitutional,
citing provisions allowing for amnesty for serious crimes and
conditioning reparations on victims forgiving their tormentors.

Unlike the CAVR, the CTF will not address
events prior to 1999, when the majority of the deaths and human
rights crimes during Indonesia’s invasion and occupation violations
occurred.

Rafendi Djamin of the Human Rights Working
Group told the Jakarta Post, “It has been agreed by the
international community that gross human rights violations did take
place in East Timor and the perpetrators must stand trial for that.”
East Timor’s Judicial System Monitoring Programme
has said that any
amnesties would likely be the result of “a high level political
conspiracy between the Government of Indonesia and Timor-Leste,”
undermining the rights of victims and paving the way for further
rights violations.

ETAN was formed in 1991. The U.S.-based
organization advocates for democracy, justice and human rights for
Timor-Leste and Indonesia. For more information see ETAN's web site:
http://www.etan.org.